This invention is related to interactive multi-media applications in psychological testing.
Psychological and educational assessment tools have been used for the measurement and evaluation of abilities, aptitudes, personality characteristics and so forth. An early example of such tests dates back to 1904 when psychologist Alfred Binet was asked by the French Ministry of Education to design a test that would identify slow learners. It was noted that some children did not learn well in an ordinary classroom setting and needed special help. Reluctant to let teachers identify slow learners due to the possibility of prejudicial bias, an objective test was sought that would reveal who could benefit from remedial work. Binet""s brainstorm was the famous IQ test.
It is well to note the basic difference between the assessment tools that are the subject of this invention and the skill acquisition or remedial training tools commonly known as computer-assisted instruction (CAI). Many examples of the latter courseware for simple presentation or the newer multi-media versions are available in subjects from art to zoology. The main attribute of such courseware (including testing) is the interactive nature of the programs and the convenience and xe2x80x9ccustomizingxe2x80x9d of each session as a function of the demonstrated skill level of the student. In CAI the notions of reliability, validity, bias, and standardization are seldom of central importance because of the objective nature of the courseware.
These notions, however, are of primary importance in the psychological and educational assessment tools; furthermore, accurate determination of the subject""s basals and ceilings is required for the proper administration and scoring of the test.
The allocation of presentation material to video vs. audio is just a matter of style or perceived effectiveness in the CAI environment. The situation is quite different regarding assessment tools which are rigorously field tested (ie. xe2x80x9cnormedxe2x80x9d) for reliability and validity; the mode of administration is precisely stipulated, and any deviation may violate the conditions under which it had been normed. For psychological and educational assessment tools, the full range of multi-media presentation features closely simulates the manual version of a normed test. The standards used to create the manual test are easily translated to the computer test by a comparative study of the similarity of test scores of computer assisted versus manual testing.
To summarize the distinctions between CAI and norm referenced computer-assisted assessment (CAA) of the present invention, the uses of each as well as the scoring techniques should be explored. CAI is used to teach new material, to review learned material as in drill and practice, to teach productivity techniques such as word processing and to teach programming. Some CAI programs have features to keep track of scores or to adjust the level of difficulty. In contrast, CAA of the present invention is an assessment tool; teaching is not the objective. Scoring of CAA is sophisticated with raw scores, standard scores, subtests, age equivalents, and basals and ceilings. The testing rules of CAA are rigid with no deviation allowed.
The traditional psychological and educational assessment manual tools are usually administered one-on-one with a clinician serving the dual role of test administrator and observer/recorder. For brain damaged adults, the clinician is typically an experienced psychologist or psychiatrist. However, in the school environment for educational or psychological assessment, the clinician may be a social worker, a visiting psychologist, a speech therapist, a reading specialist, a resource room teacher, a special education teacher, etc. While test administration requires a training program, the proficiency of the clinician is variable especially in the school environment. Each of the assessment tools has extensive instructions for the clinician in the area of question sequencing and scoring related to establishing the critical range of the subject; this is involved with the subject""s basals and ceilings which are determined by runs of right or wrong answers within a particular sequence. A rule might be, xe2x80x9cif the subject gets two questions wrong in succession, change to sequence 4 and score all of the answers below question x as wrong and above question y as rightxe2x80x9d. To the uninitiated, this might seem counter intuitive; field experience has shown this aspect of test administration and scoring to be most problematic, especially for clinicians with limited assessment background. For example, clinicians tend to be reluctant to xe2x80x9cpenalizexe2x80x9d subjects by not giving credit for correct answers above the ceiling; others show a reluctance to grant unearned credit for incorrect answers below the basal. Other reasons for bias such as social class prejudice or the assumption that shy or disruptive children are learning impaired may be operative. The subjectivity of manual testing precludes true standardized administration. Subjectivity and deviation from test rules can take place during any part of the testing session. Factors may involve the clinician or the subject.
In the traditional test session, the clinician is expected to manually administer the test, record the scores, and assess the subject""s response and behavior. In addition, the clinician is expected to compute the scores and sometimes to write a report suggesting learning programs. This is difficult to do well, especially with xe2x80x9cdifficultxe2x80x9d test subjects. In fact, such testing using a human examiner is often not possible for children with attention deficit disorder (ADD) or those too young to focus long enough to be accurately tested.
While clinicians may be very proficient in their respective fields, they may not speak clearly. They are expected to flawlessly recite scripts to the subjects during evaluation. In some cases, the subject is getting the question wrong just because he or she doesn""t understand the examiner. In situations with xe2x80x9cEnglish as a Second Languagexe2x80x9d (ESL) subjects the problem is compounded. Sometimes, the reverse problem manifests itself if the clinician has an accent.
Computer software for test scoring and analysis of error patterns is available for manually administered tests. However, it is necessary to manually enter the raw scores into the computer prior to the automated analysis. Also, there is no computer guidance in administrating the test since this is done as an ad-hoc procedure after the test is over.
Therefore, the objects of the present invention are as follows:
To preclude all possible bias in test administration, thereby achieving complete objectivity;
To provide dynamic linguistic adaptation to accommodate ESL test subjects;
To enhance the validity of the subject""s response by utilizing professional voice actors with unsurpassed clarity in every dialect to guarantee that the subject understands what is being asked;
To automatically determine the subject""s basals and ceilings, thereby finding the subject""s critical range to ensure the proper test administration and scoring;
To improve subject on-task performance by superior computer presentation of test items which has been shown to improve motivation and focus;
To free the clinician to assess the subject""s response and behavior by using the multi-media system to take over the test administration function;
To permit cost-effective screening of students by less-trained and less-paid paraprofessionals using computerized testing; this eliminates the inherent bias in the selection process of students for further professional testing;
To use the features of multi-media computer presentation as an audio-visual aid enhance the clarity and understanding of test items;
To use the computer as an audio-visual aid in presenting sample items to help clarify instructions and model correct responses;
To use computer-based test administration to maintain test standardization by precisely conforming to traditional modes of evaluation;
To provide automated scoring and analysis of error patterns without the manual re-entry of raw scores; and,
To utilize animation and other audio-visual techniques inherent to multi-media technology to create new measures (tests) to test subjects in ways they could never be tested before, as well as to test specific cognitive, motor, and other abilities, which could never be tested before.
The nature and substance of this invention includes a method and system to perform psychological and educational assessment of subjects using multi-media technology.
The method of the present invention for psychological evaluation of human subjects includes the steps of providing a human subject, such as a student, to be evaluated with a multi-media capable computer having a view monitor means, such as a VDT terminal, and a computer input-response means, such as a keyboard, a mouse or a touch screen. A human psychological tester operates the multi-media computer and conducts the psychological evaluation of the student.
To avoid the inherent bias occurring when a tester speaks in a language or dialect not fully comprehended by the student or other human subject, the multi media computer has a linguistic adaptation means, such as a sound card and data associated therewith, which can produce sounds, such as test instructions, in the most appropriate language and dialect of the test taker, such as a student, so that the human tester can provide the human subject with instructions for responding to the psychological evaluation.
The human subject is exposed to computer-generated multi-media psychological evaluative probing, so that the human subject can respond to the computer-generated psychological evaluative probing.
The computer tallies and records the student""s responses and analyzes the human subject""s recorded responses. Afterward the computer automatically prepares a report based upon the human subject""s recorded responses, and transfers its report, such as transfer to a computer-readable diskette or by printing to a printer.
The psychological evaluation of the human subject is provided by at least one software program stored in a randomly accessible non-volatile computer memory, such as the computer""s hard drive, for providing at least one type of psychological evaluation. The at least one software program further includes a plurality of discrete audible and/or visual segments such as questions to be responded to by the human subject being evaluated.
The discrete audible segments include audibly-reproducible signals stored in a randomly accessible non-volatile computer memory for producing sounds to be responded to by the human subject being evaluated, such as spoken phrases to be responded to by the human subject. The spoken phrases are selected from a plurality of user-selectable languages and/or dialects.
The discrete visual segments include visually-reproducible signals stored in a randomly accessible non-volatile computer memory for producing images to be responded to by the human subject being evaluated, such as text selected from a plurality of psychological evaluation question items stored as text written in a plurality of languages and/or dialects and/or character sets, such as Chinese or Cyrillic, among others.
To assist in evaluating temporal time oriented tasks, such as allowing a student decide which of three moving objects, such as balls, moves fastest, or the calculated destination thereof, optionally the discrete visual segments may include computer-generated motion for psycho-motor evaluation of human subjects.
The computer generated motion may include a plurality of user selectable visually-perceived motions, such as the moving balls, at differing speeds and/or velocities and/or accelerations.
Moreover, the linguistic adaptation means includes at least one software program capable of presenting audible psychological probing tasks in a variety of user-selected languages and dialects, wherein the languages and dialects are respectively stored discretely in randomly accessible computer non-volatile memory, such as the computer""s hard drive or upon a removable diskette.
The method of using multi-media technology in psychological evaluations may include an evaluation of the human subject""s emotional status, mental health, learning ability, neurological impairment status, educational status, educational achievement status, aptitude for future education or aptitude for future vocational education.
In changing the language or dialect of the test, the linguistic adaptation means further includes a user selection of the language and/or dialect to be used for the psychological evaluation of the specific human subject, such as a student.
Furthermore, the linguistic adaptation means further includes information stored in a computer non-volatile memory means, such as discrete randomly accessible test questions in a plurality of languages and/or dialects on the hard drive or insertable diskette of the multi-media computer. To begin the test, the human psychological tester selects the type of psychological evaluation to be conducted and selects the language and/or dialect in which the test is to be conducted. In that manner, the test avoids language based bias in the use of interactive multi-media applications in psychological testing.